Pokemon, The Final Fantasy Version: Dissidia
by InhaledCorn
Summary: People are missing, Pokemon are going insane, and a criminal organization vies for world domination. Legend says that the light will choose several youths to be its champion and save the world. I'd say now would qualify, wouldn't you? Story shifts between multiple points of view. World of Pokemon based on the Anime. Rated T for safety.
1. Prologue

**Hello, loyal fans. This story idea's been bouncing around in my head for a little while, so I decided I would start it up. Yeah, as if I'm not already working on a long story. Bah. Oh well, this is mostly an introductory chapter.**

… **Could you believe before I wrote this that there hasn't been a Dissidia: Final Fantasy and Pokémon crossover on yet? I was honestly shocked.**

**Oh, before we begin, I'm crossing Dissidia with the Pokemon **_**Anime**_** universe, so, sorry, no Pokemon Special characters and (maybe) no N, and we have to deal with Ash. I HAVE A PLAN, DON'T WORRY.**

**Quick Disclaimer: I own nothing in the story except the story itself, Final Fantasy, Pokémon, and their characters belong to Square Enix, Game Freak, and Nintendo. All Rights Reserved.**

~(-)~

***powers on***

The Pokémon Company

NINTENDO

*the game flashes screens to show some copyright information*

*a star shoots across the screen, touching down to form the game company name*

GAME FREAK

In cooperation with Square Enix

_The scene opens to reveal a vast, white area with a variety of structures dotting the landscape. The sky overhead is cloudy and overcast, only letting sparse rays of light through the holes in the clouds. Also seen in this landscape are nearly all of the legendary Pokemon, all lined up in two rows, creating a sort of isle toward one structure in particular, a vaguely crescent-shaped structure, similar to a boat, only it was anchored to the ground. A bright light flashed upon this structure, and three figures appeared, their features obscured by the strong light emanating from behind them. One of the shapes, the one in the middle, was definitely human, and, judging by the vague shape, one could say that it was a woman with a high degree of accuracy. The one to her right was much larger than her and had four legs and some sort of wheel-like structure protruding from its middle. The figure to her left was small and seemed somewhat cat-like with an extremely long tail._

_Before a better view of the scene could be grasped, the scene erupted in fire and the sky turned dark, a large man cloaked in shadows could be seen in the background, and his laugh echoed throughout the now destroyed landscape. The view heads skyward._

_When the view comes back to the earth, there are several quick glimpses of young men, first being one with silver hair and eyes and fair skin in a nice, dark-blue suit observing a battle in silence with his partner Pokemon, Lucario, nearby, one with lighter silver hair and violet eyes in a blue hoodie starring dreamily out a window with his partner Pokemon, Ralts, one with brown hair and brown eyes in a lighter-blue hoodie resting under a tree using his partner Pokemon, Dodrio, as a pillow, one with messy, brown hair and sky blue eyes in a black jacket and black, baggy shorts enjoying a spirited battle with his partner Pokemon, Eevee, and one with a red-and-white baseball cap with a blue Pokeball symbol on his hat covering his messy, black hair looking out at the horizon, fresh off the boat with his partner Pokemon, Pikachu. The screen cuts away to reveal the title screen._

**POKEMON, THE FINAL FANTASY**

**VERSION DISSIDIA**

***presses A***

NEW GAME

WI-FI CONNECTION

OPTIONS

***selects New Game***

The scene faded in. The background was a rather generic light-blue. Also fading in was a person, a woman to be exact. She had long, beautiful, blond hair, fair skin, very-light blue eyes, a long, white dress, and various gold jewelry. She smiled, looking out at something.

"Hello, and welcome to the world of Pokemon." She paused and took a moment to giggle. "I suppose I should not be telling you this, as you are already quite familiar with the world of Pokemon, are you not?" She took a moment to clear her throat. "That may be so, but you have only seen the surface. There is so much more to be seen."

"How much more?"

"More than you could even imagine," she answered. "Your previous adventures may have allowed you to see past the surface, but even then, that was only a small fraction of the world of what you could see. I can show you."

"How?"

"With a special gift."

"… 'Gift'? What sort of 'gift'?"

"The gift to see the _true_ world of Pokémon…"

The woman raised her hand out in front of her, and it began to glow brightly. The light blinded the person the woman was conversing with, causing the scene to disappear altogether.

~(-)~

***hits save***

**Aaaaand, that's it for the prologue.**

**I said I was going to use the anime Pokémon, but I start the fic off like the video game opening…**

… **Eh, I'm sticking with it. You can probably guess all of the mentioned characters in the intro, but what their significance is… Well, that I'm not telling you. That you'll just have to guess.**

**Next time: In this new region of Shinjuku, the greatest trainers from across the world gather for one reason and one reason only: TO BATTLE! Old friends reunite while new friends are made. However, shadows loom nearby, waiting… anticipating… searching for the prime time to strike.**


	2. Old Friends and New Faces

**Oh, quick note before we begin: all of the anime characters are a few years older because Ash = 10 for 13+ years is total and utter horse dookey. I don't care what the Unova intro said. Ash is 15. END OF STORY. … No, wait, end of Author's note. Now, if you'll excuse me…**

***boots up game***

***spams A to avoid intro***

***hits LOAD GAME***

~(-)~

It was a fairly nice day. It wasn't too hot or too cold. The streets, however, were crazy busy with all of the people darting this way and that from stall to stall, snatching up souvenirs or snacks or anything else they could buy. One stall in particular had garnered a fair amount of patrions. Said stall was selling special collector bottle caps, allegedly signed by such and such gym leaders or Elite Four members. Whether their claims were true or not, people bought them up in a hurry, anyway.

Today was a rather special and momentous day. Today was to start a tournament. However, this wasn't just _any_ old tournament. This tournament was an invitation-only tournament gathering the strongest trainers from around the world, most of which happened to be gym leaders and members of the Elite Four and their Champions. To have that many strong trainers in one place naturally gathered the eyes of the world.

Nearby the stadium where this tournament was to take place stood a young girl and her partner Pokemon. Her long, navy hair flowed out from her white beanie with some of it pulled into a ponytail in the back. Her outfit consisted of a black dress over a pink skirt with a white ruffle at her chest for modesty, and her footwear were pink boots that came up to her knees with black socks that run just slightly higher than the top of her boots. On one wrist, she wore a loose bracelet with two purple beads, and on the other she had a pink Poke-etch, a watch-like tool for the discerning Pokémon trainer. She was tapping her foot and eyeing her watch impatiently. It was obvious she was waiting for something.

"She's late." Correction, _someone_. She sighed. "I can't believe I'm missing all of these great deals, Piplup!"

Piplup, a little, blue penguin-like Pokémon, said its name and nodded in disappointed agreement. He crossed his arms and began tapping his flipper, mimicking the movements of his trainer. They were like this for some time until-

"SORRY I'M LATE!"

Running toward them waving, was another young girl, slightly older than the first. She wore a green bandana over her brown hair that flared out to either side from underneath it. She wore an orange dress with black collar and a green "fanny pack" around her waist, black, bicycle shorts under her dress, orange and white shoes with black socks, and white gloves with black fingers and black and green wristbands. When she finally made it to the other young woman, she stopped and bent over, completely out of breath. She looked up into the other female's eyes, her blue eyes giving off a look of complete apology.

"I am _so_ sorry, Dawn!" the girl in the orange dress started. "I _completely_ lost track of time!"

"DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG WE'VE BEEN WAITING HERE, MAY?" Dawn shouted (with added squawks from Piplup), perhaps louder than she meant to since she caught the attention of several passers-by. "I thought you said you would meet me here as soon as you got off the boat?"

"I know, I know!" she said, bowing multiple times in shame. "But, all of the food, and clothes, and _stuff_ I passed, not to mention I had to bring my stuff to our hotel room…" Dawn just crossed her arms and looked away, still very much annoyed. "… I'll get you some Unova ice cream?"

She softened up a bit and giggled. "Okay, deal."

The two (with Piplup in tow) walked down the stalls, looking for the ice cream stall May passed on her way to meet Dawn. While the two of them were at that, they decided to catch up on old times. They only met for the first time at the Wallace Cup at Lake Valor, but the two of them became fast friends through their mutual love of Contests and dream of becoming a Top Coordinator.

"How goes the Contests in Sinnoh?" Dawn asked.

"Great!" May answered. "I've already got three Ribbons!"

"That's great!"

"What about you? How're you doing in Hoenn?"

"Ah, not so great. I've only got two."

"Does that include the Aqua Ribbon?"

"I don't want to use that if I don't have to," she said, reflecting back on that cup. "I'd rather use all of the Ribbons I won in that region, you know?"

"Oh, yeah, I understand," May said while nodding. She reflected on her own Ribbons. "Ribbons aren't just the symbol of victory, but the pride of a coordinator and their Pokémon. They hold special memories and places in our hearts."

Dawn giggled. "It's like Ash with his badges."

May perked up at the name. "Speaking of Ash, where is he? I figured we would have run into him by now…"

"Yeah especially considering-"

"CASTELIACONES! GET YOUR CASTELIACONES! STRAIGHT FROM UNOVA'S CASTELIA CITY! YOU WON'T FIND ANOTHER ICE CREAM LIKE IT!"

The two turn to see the ice cream stand they have been looking for. Running the stall was a rather spirited _giant_ of a man and a young girl who was completely dwarfed by her companion's size. The young man had his light, blond hair underneath a black bandana and wore a tan trench coat over an ice-blue vest, while the young girl next to him had her pink hair tied into a ponytail on the side of her head wearing a sheer vest over a sleeveless, white blouse and plaid skirt. A little Vanilitie rested on the tall man's shoulders while the young girl heald a Chubchoo in her arms. May and Dawn oogled just how adorable the little polar bear cub Pokémon was.

"Ladies, ladies," the tall man began. "I'm thrilled you came by the stand, but if you're not going to order anything, I really need you to move on."

"Snow…" the lady holding the Chubchoo began.

"What?" he asked defensively. "I have other paying customers to get to, too, Serah!"

"Sorry, sorry!" May apologized. "I'll take two Casteliacones, please. A chocolate for me and…"

"Strawberry!" Dawn pitched in, with a "Pip-Piplup!" from her companion.

"And, a strawberry for my friend, please."

"Sure can do!" Snow, the "giant," answered. "YO, ABOMASNOW!" Lifting the back curtain, a large, white, shaggy, monstrous-looking Pokémon revealed himself.

"Aboma-boma?"

"Two Casteliacones for the young ladies, if you please."

"PIP-PIPLUP!" Piplup cried angrily, crossing his flippers.

"Oh, sorry, and for the little squirt, too." Piplup got really angry at that statement and jumped up on Snow's head and started Pecking him. Snow started swatting at him, "ow"ing at every peck while the girls tried desperately to try and get Piplup off.

Finally managing to get Piplup off of Snow's head, Dawn restrained him in her arms. However, Piplup struggled to get free, screaming angrily, probably swearing some sort of vengeance on Snow for calling him a "squirt" and hurting his pride.

Massaging his sore head, Serah handed the girls their Casteliacones. "That will be 100 Poke-Dollars."

Snow did a double-take. "But, Serah, they're normally-"

"I said, '100 Poke-dollars,' or do you have a problem with me giving them a discount?" she asked with the sweetest smile on her face, though Snow knew that meant he wasn't going to win this discussion.

"… No," he said as he hung his head low in defeat.

"Good," she said with a slight giggle. May gave her the money as requested, and then the two of them went to find a spare bench to relax and eat. However, considering there wasn't any, the two just decided to walk, talk, and eat.

"You know, we were talking about something before we found the ice cream," Dawn started while licking her Casteliacone. When she paused to think, Piplup grabbed a few licks from the cone. "What was it?"

"Oh… Gosh… Uh… Hm…" May began to think too. "OH! I remember. We were talking about Ash."

"Oh, yeah! Where is he? The guy has _got_ to be around here, somewhere, right?"

"Maybe we should check the Pokémon Center."

"Yeah. He's probably making some phone calls…"

"For Pokémon," the two responded together, causing each other to start laughing.

(-)

The two walked into the local Pokémon Center as the automatic glass doors shut behind them. Inside, three different pink Pokémon, Chansey, Blissey, and Audino, were frantically running about trying to attend to each of the Pokémon and their trainers that walked through the door. While it was a tournament for the best, who says those who came to watch can't have some fun themselves? However, at the counter, a different kind of ruckus was underway…

"Nurse Joy, I have been all over the world, and have seen many a Joy, but none are quite as beautiful as you!" exclaimed a young, tan man with black, spikey hair holding the pink-haired nurse's hand in his. He wore an olive green shirt underneath a brown and orange vest, tan cargo pants, and blue sneakers. Strangely enough, no one is quite sure what his eye color was since his eyes always appear to be closed. It was a family thing, he got it from his father (along with a penchant for pretty girls… or else it's a case of parental abandonment. Either or). Popping up from behind him was a young woman with orange hair tied into a ponytail a bit off-center. She had a pale-yellow vest and shorts, each with dark-blue trim, and a red sack-like backpack. Her arm snaked and slithered dangerously close to the young man's ear, however, the young man's most trusted Pokémon, a poison frog-like Pokémon known as a Croagunk, struck first with his "fist" in a purple glow. With a quick cry of his name, he gave him a swift jab in his side. The young man quickly released his grip and tensed up painfully. "And now, I'm going on another trip…" he whined before falling painfully on the ground after being injected with the Croagunk's poison. Croagunk grabbed his trainer by the shirt and dragged him off, "laughing" the entire time.

The young woman just looked on a sighed and turned back to the nurse. "I'm sorry for my idiot friend."

The nurse just waved off her apology like it was a common occurrence.

Dawn giggled. "Well, it's nice to know some things don't change."

May nodded in agreement. "Though, I didn't think a _Pokémon_ would be the one to keep Brock in line after we went our separate ways."

"Who kept Brock off all of the ladies while he traveled with you?"

"My brother, Max."

"Oh, right, you told me about him."

"He's with Mom and Dad right now. We can go see him later."

"Misty! Brock!" May shouted across the room, though in the busy traffic, she wasn't sure they'd be able to hear her. However, when Misty turned around, she nearly feel over in surprise.

"May!" the orange-haired woman called back. "I haven't seen you in forever, how are-"

"MAY, DAWN!" Brock, the tan, young man, had recovered from his poisoning in his same, mysterious way and practically jumped in-between the three. "I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU GUYS IN FOREVER, HOW HAVE YOU BEEN?"

May nearly jumped backwards when she saw Brock practically spring back to life. "… Wasn't he just poisoned?"

Dawn nervously chuckled. "Uh… yeah, you'll get used to that."

Before the two of them knew what happened, their own hands were being grabbed as what appeared to be a mini-Brock kneeled before them. "I know Brock told me he knew pretty friends, but I couldn't have imagined you were _this_ beautiful!" While the girls were both flattered and somewhat crept out, Misty was on him in a heartbeat, dragging the young boy off by his ear, despite his many, many protests.

"That's my little brother," Brock said, nodding in approval.

Leaning over to May, Dawn whispered, "The apple doesn't fall very far from the tree, does it?"

"Apparently not…" May agreed.

"I can't _believe_ you, Forrest!" Misty scolded. "Didn't Brock teach you _anything_?"

"Yeah…" he muttered under his breath, "I shouldn't do that when _you're_ around… not that I can really help it…"

Finally releasing her grip from a grateful Forrest, Misty's hand was quickly snatched up by a suitor of her own. His baby-blue eyes peaked out from underneath a head of golden-blond hair tied in a loose ponytail in the back by a blue ribbon. He wore an open dark, blue vest over a white polo shirt with a long, teal tie down the front. Around his waist was a thick, brown, leather belt with a silver belt buckle and blue cargo pants that went just past his knees. He wore black and white sneakers and a simple backpack with brown, belted straps, and large, blue cuffed snow-gloves. Peeking out from his backside was a… tail? No, wait, it wasn't his, but it belonged to his Pokémon, one May and Dawn recognized right away as an Aipom from the pink tail leading to a hand-like extension, although they were both confused as most Aipom are normally purple. "Miss, are you in a hospital because you hurt yourself?"

"'Hurt myself'? From what?" Misty answered, although she almost immediately regretted it.

"Falling from heaven-ACK!" The tail wrapped around to sock him in the stomach… hard. The wind was knocked out of him as he doubled over in pain. The Aipom on his back was clearly upset.

"C-Come on, Ruby…" he wheezed, trying to get his lungs to work again after that hard hit. "Y-You know you're the… only girl for me…"

The Aipom apparently named Ruby only pouted and crossed her arms, then whacked the golden-haired boy one more time, this time in the back of his head, causing his face to hit the floor with enough force to leave quite the impression in it. The boy, suddenly finding air in his lungs, screamed, "MY FACE! MY BEAUTIFUL FAAAAACE!"

"Honestly," Misty started, turning to her other female companions, "I think it's an improvement." Dawn and May couldn't stifle their giggles.

"Oh, honestly, not again," the Nurse Joy lamented. "Zidane, will you ever learn?"

"Maybe I need some private heali-" his thought was interrupted when he felt the burning glare of his Aipom boring into his skull. He hung his head in shame.

"Zidane, was it?" Dawn asked the golden-haired boy.

The boy turned on his heels and quickly bowed to the navy-haired girl. "That would be me, Miss." He lifted his head to look at her, though he was still bowed over. "And, how may I help you?"

"Um, if I may ask, why is your Aipom pink?"

Zidane lit up the moment she asked the question. "Ah, I suppose you've never heard of 'shiny' Pokémon, then, have you?"

"No," Dawn answered shaking her head. "What's that?"

The nurse answered for Zidane. "It's a term given to Pokémon that are of a different color variety from normal. These Pokémon are very rare and highly sought after by collectors."

"And, my Ruby," Zidane said, pointing to his Aipom, "is one such Pokémon."

Dawn still seemed confused, however. "But, why are they called 'shiny'? Ruby doesn't look like it sparkles."

"Yes, but a strange phenomenon occurs whenever a 'shiny' Pokémon is released from its ball," the Nurse took back over for Zidane, "in that a cluster of sparkles are released as well."

"Thus, the 'shiny' term," Zidane finished.

"And, how rare are they?" Dawn was curious now. She just _had_ to have one for her contests. She would win the appeal rounds for sure!

The nurse shook her head. "Many people have gone their entire lives without ever seeing _one_."

Dawn's hopes were dashed in an instant. _"_That_rare…"_ she thought.

"Yup, my Ruby's one-o'-a-kind," Zidane boasted. "You know, if you want, you can stick with me… Maybe I can be your lucky charm-" Ruby knew what Zidane was doing, yet again, and started to rapidly scratch his face. "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW! WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?" The girls couldn't help giggling at his expense.

Zidane was soon grabbed by Brock and dragged off into the corner. "Man, I know just what that's like… I've been there before… Sooooo many times…" He soon began to cry **manly** tears of **manliness**.

Zidane soon followed suit. "Us ladykillers are so unappreciated!"

"Those two are Swellow of a feather," Dawn remarked.

"More like 'Aipom from the same barrel,'" Misty corrected.

(-)

Zidane decided to tag along with the others when he heard they were heading into the coliseum to prepare for their upcoming battles and meet their competition. Zidane was actually rather impressed, though "hardly surprised," that Misty was a gym leader. He made a mental note to head to Kanto on his next journey (he hoped all of the other girls were as hot as her).

"So, Zidane, you'd better not hit on any of the other girls there?" Misty warned.

Zidane slyly smiled at that remark. "What, you wouldn't happen to be jealous, would you?"

Misty blushed, then screamed, "N-No! I'm doing this as a favor to you, and I don't want you to make a fool of yourself, and by extension, me!"

Zidane waved his arms downward in hopes of getting Misty to calm down. "Whoa, whoa, relax! I'm just kidding!" Zidane decided to turn serious for a moment. "Actually, I have a reason to want to go backstage _besides_ pretty girls." Misty looked at him with a questioning look. "I'm actually looking for the eighth gym leader of Shinjuku."

"You've got seven badges already?" Misty asked, more to herself than to Zidane. "I'm actually somewhat impressed."

Zidane gave a half-bow. "Why thank you, miss."

"But," she began to ask, "why not just go to his gym and challenge him there?"

Zidane shrugged and sighed. "Because the guy is almost never there."

"What, why? He's a gym leader, after all."

Zidane pouted. "Yeah, but his friends say that he only took over the gym after his father passed away, but he really hates being in one spot for very long. I swear, the guy's flaker than a pastry."

It started to make sense to Misty. "So, when you heard about the tournament…"

Zidane nodded. "Yeah, I thought I might find him here to challenge him to a battle."

"Well, good luck." Misty and the rest of the company stopped when they found the door Misty and Forrest was supposed to enter. "Oh, this is the waiting room for Kanto guests. Shinjuku's probably down the hall."

"Alright, I'll go look for it. Thanks!" he waved good-bye before darting down the hall.

Brock and Forrest, being unusually gentlemanly, opened the door for the ladies to let them inside. Of course, the girls giggled at the show of such chivalrous behavior. Inside were many familiar faces from the other gym regions. The only one Misty didn't know from her travels around with Ash was the new gym leader of Fuchsia City, Janine, who took over for her father after he was accepted into the Johto Elite Four. Although, there was a face here she did not expect to see.

"Gary?"

A young man with messy, brown hair, black eyes, popped collar black-polo shirt, a small necklace with a purple charm, purple cargo pants, purple wristbands, and black shoes, turned around when he heard his name. He lit up when he saw people he recognized. "Oh! Brock, Misty, Dawn!" He got up and shook each of their hands. "I haven't seen you in a while. How have you all been?"

"Great!" They all answered together.

Noting May as a new person he hasn't met before, he offered his hand to her. "Hi, I'm Gary Oak. You are?"

May took it somewhat nervously and shook it. "Uh, May. It's nice to meet you."

He nodded. "Likewise."

"She used to travel with Ash," Dawn interjected.

Gary let loose a quick laugh. "That guy, who hasn't he traveled with?"

Misty was quickly back to business. "Gary, what are you doing here? I thought this was for gym leaders and Elite Four members only?"

Gary sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Well, you see, the League tried to contact the leader of the gym in Viridian, but he never answered. Grandpa offered me to represent the Viridian Gym in his place, and the League agreed when they saw my credentials and the fact my grandpa is, you know, Professor Oak-"

"NO WAY!" May interjected. "Your grandfather is _the_ Professor Oak?"

Gary nervously chuckled. He really hated being famous because his grandfather was famous. He wanted people to know him as Gary Oak: the researcher, not Gary Oak: the grandson of Samuel Oak. "Uh… Yeah…"

"Could you tell him the Squirtle he gave me a while ago is doing great?" she asked.

"You can tell me yourself," an older-sounding voice responded from behind them. Standing behind them, with his gray-brown hair, white lab coat, and red pants, was the famous Professor Oak himself.

"Professor!" Misty, Brock, and May exclaimed happily.

"Hey, Grandpa," Gary added.

"Hello, kids-" his sentence was quickly interrupted by a now fangirling Dawn.

"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! I'm getting to meet you _in person_!" she squealed with delight. "Could you write me a poem? Please!" She practically shoved Piplup in his face. "Make it about Piplup!"

Poor Oak could only nervously laugh at her enthusiasm. "Um, Dawn, I already have…" he answered, patting the little penguin on the head before pushing it away. Professor Oak looked around the room. "Oh, have any of you seen Ash? I've been looking for that boy for a while now. His mother's getting worried."

"I haven't seen him, Granpa," Gary answered, shaking his head.

"We came here to find him," everyone else answered.

Professor Oak took a moment to think. "Where could that boy be? He was so excited for this, he already got his strongest Pokémon from me earlier in the week."

The others took a moment to think about where their mutual friend could be when the doors opened again to see a very defeated looking Zidane slump in. He walked over to the bench everyone was gathered at and flopped in the seat and sighed.

"I'm guessing he wasn't there?" Misty asked.

Zidane sighed again. "No." His depression quickly turned into anger. "I mean, even the Elite Four _Champion_ isn't here! THE NERVE OF SOME PEOPLE!"

"Who's the kid?" Gary whispered to Misty.

"Oh, we met him at the Center," she answered. "He was looking for the eighth gym leader from Shinjuku. No luck."

"Man, that plan was a bust," Zidane whined, with his Ruby popping out of his backpack to nod in agreement. Upon seeing it, however, both Oaks lit up like a rocket.

"Is-Is that?"

"I think it is!"

Gary snatched her from Zidane's backpack with such speed and swiftness, no one saw his hands move. The two Oaks were examining every inch of the rare, pink Aipom, making various observations in what everyone swore was a foreign language. Ruby, however, quite liked the attention.

Before anyone had realized it, a great deal of time had passed since a man entered the room wearing a generic black suit, black tie, and sunglasses, essentially stripping him of any identity.

"Kanto representatives, prepare yourselves. You're needed on stage in five minutes," the man announced.

"My goodness!" Professor Oak exclaimed. "Is it that time already? We'd better get to our seats to cheer you all on." All of the ones not participating in the tournament, being May, Dawn, Brock, Professor Oak, and Zidane, left the room. The first four headed to the stands to take their seats while Zidane had to leave the building altogether since he didn't have a ticket for a seat. They were at a premium, after all. He could have asked his brother for the money… but that would mean asking his_brother_ for the money.

"Oh, Zidane," Professor Oak started before they went their separate ways. "If you wouldn't mind, I would like to examine your Aipom some more at the Pokémon Center later today after the preliminaries. Is that alright?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah! Sure, that's fine, right, Ruby?" Aipom ooked in agreement. "See you then, Professor, everyone!" he said, waving good-bye.

"Bye, Zidane!" they all answered back.

(-)

"May! It's so great to see you!" exclaimed a brown-haired woman with her hair tied back in a ponytail. She had a pink cardigan over a yellow tee-shirt and a blue skirt that went down to her knees. She gave May a great big hug.

"It's great to see you too, Mrs. Ketchum!" May answered back. "How have you been?"

"Oh, you know, busy, busy, busy! Gotta keep my little Ash out of trouble," she said dreamily, reflecting on the day her "little boy" first left on his Pokémon journey. "Speaking of Ash, you haven't seen him, have you?"

"No, sorry," May answered, shaking her head. The others had no such luck either.

"Oh well," she said with a sigh. "If I know my Ash like I think I do, he'll show up, sooner or later." She then noted an unfamiliar face in the group. "Oh, hello, I don't think we've met. I'm Delia Ketchum, Ash's Mom."

"Um, I'm Dawn. I met Ash when he was travelling in Sinnoh," Dawn answered.

"Oh, so you're Dawn! Oh, Ash has told me so much about you. Says 'you're so fussy with your hair.' He obviously doesn't know much about girls," she giggled.

Dawn giggled back. "Boys." May and Delia nodded in agreement.

"Where are you sitting?" Delia asked.

"Oh, I'm sitting with May," Dawn answered. "She invited me here."

"And, we're sitting with my mom and brother in a different area, sorry," May apologized. "If we had known Ash was going to be here in the tournament sooner, we would have tried to get the tickets close by, but even the ones we got were really hard to get!"

"For such a big tournament, of course tickets were going to be at a premium!" Brock interjected. "I'm still surprised Mom and Dad managed to get tickets for my entire family."

Trumpets began to play, signifying that the ceremony was about to start. Everyone quickly said good-bye, went their separate ways, and scrambled to their seats.

A spotlight shown down on the stage, revealing a black haired man in his mid-40's with seafoam green eyes. He wore a sky blue polo shirt, brown slacks, and sandals? Odd fashion choice. Around his neck were dogtags, presumably his from his younger days. The man had the largest smile on his face and his face was practically aglow with pride.

"Hello!" he said into the microphone he was holding. "My name is Laguna Loire, president of the Pokémon League of Shinjuku! Now, I know my aides said me appearing on stage was a bad idea, but, come on! My region is hosting one of _the_ biggest tournaments to ever grace our fair leagues. How could anyone _but_ me be the one to announce the opening ceremonies?" He laughed heartily into the microphone. Sure, he wasn't the most professional of people, but he really knew how to connect with everyone. Soon, the crowd was just as jovial as Laguna.

Also watching the festivities were three individuals, one with long, magenta hair, one with short, blue hair, and… a poorly disguised Meowth that, for some reason, no one paid attention to. They were all dressed in vendor outfits, selling concessions to the patrons in the stands.

The magenta-haired one slyly talked into her watch which was actually a wrist communicator. "Should we begin the operation?"

"No, not yet," answered someone from the other line. "We have not received the signal. Continue as planned."

"Rodger," she answered, before returning to selling someone else a bag of peanuts.

"Well, anyway," continued the President. "Allow me to introduce the teams participating in the tournament!" Laguna turned back giving a sweeping motion with his arm, as smoke, streamers, and confetti shot up from cannons in the ground. The curtain lifted to reveal the participating gym leaders and Elite Four from all around the world, each of them standing tall and proud to represent their home town and region.

Kanto's team consisted of Forrest, the Pewter Gym Leader, Misty, the Cerulean Gym Leader, Lt. Surge, the Vermilion Gym Leader, Erika, the Celadon Gym Leader, Sabrina, the Saffron Gym Leader, Janine, the Fuchsia Gym Leader, Blane, the Cinnabar Gym Leader, Gary, filling in for Giovanni, the Viridian Gym Leader, "Prima," otherwise known as Lorelei, Bruno, and Agatha, the Kanto Elite Four. Filling in for the former leader of the Kanto Elite Four, Lance, was Brandon, the Pyramid King from the Battle Frontier stationed in Kanto. Johto's team consisted of Falkner, the Violet Gym Leader, Bugsy, the Azalea Gym Leader, Whitney, the Goldenrod Gym Leader, Morty, the Ecruteak Gym Leader, Chuck, the Cianwood Gym Leader, Jasmine, the Olivine Gym Leader, Pryce, the Mahogany Gym Leader, Claire, the Blackthorn Gym Leader, Will, Koga, Karen, and Lance, the Johto Elite Four and Champion. Also joining the Johto team was Palmer, Barry's father, to replace Bruno who was also a member of the Johto Elite Four but was currently representing the Kanto one. Representing Hoenn was Roxanne, the Rustburo Gym Leader, Brawly, the Dewford Gym Leader, Wattson, the Mauville Gym Leader, Flannery, the Lavaridge Gym Leader, Norman (when his name was announced, May and Max cheered the loudest), the Petalburg Gym Leader, Winona, the Fortree Gym Leader, Tate and Liza, the Mossdeep Gym Leaders, Juan, the Sootopolis Gym Leader, Sidney, Phoebe, Glacia, Drake, and Wallace, the Elite Four and the Champion. Representing Sinnoh were Roark, the Oreburg Gym Leader, Gardenia, the Eterna Gym Leader, Maylene, the Veilstone Gym Leader, "Crasher Wake," the Pastoria Gym Leader, Fantina, the Hearthome Gym Leader, Bryon, the Canalave Gym Leader, Candice, the Snowpoint Gym Leader, Volkner, the Sunyshore Gym Leader, Aaron, Bertha, Flint, Lucien, and Cythia, the Sinnoh Elite Four and their Champion. Representing Unova was Cress, the only Gym Leader left at Stration after his brothers left on a journey, Roxie, who was taking over for Lenora since she was "too busy" to attend, Burgh, the Castelia Gym Leader, Elesa, the Nimbasa Gym Leader, Clay, the Driftveil Gym Leader, Skyla, the Mistralton Gym Leader, Brycen, the Icirrus Gym Leader, and Drayden to represent the Opelucid Gym. Their Elite Four Members consisted of Shauntal, Marshal, Caitlin, and Grimsley, with Alder as their Champion.

Last, but not least, was the host region's team of Shinjuku. Many of the members seemed confused since two members of their team were missing, namely the eighth Gym Leader, and the Elite Four Champion. The first gym leader was a young man with long, layered, silver hair. His eyes were of an icy-teal color. He wore a tan and yellow open vest over a black, zipped-up one, blue cargo pants with a black belt, gray and white sneakers, and a white arm warmer. He was announced as Riku, "The Walker Toward Dawn," leader of the Gym on the Destiny Islands. Although he was young, he was quite skilled with the use of Dark-type Pokémon, being the first known Dark-type Gym Leader and holder of the Twilight Badge. The second Gym Leader was a young man with silver hair tied in a loose ponytail in the back and an orange bandana tied around his head. His brown eyes showed a type of ferocity, and yet, gentleness. He wore a white shirt with short, blue-gray sleeves, blue-gray pants with a brown, leather belt, with his pants tucked into his brown boots. Brown, leather bracers and black gloves completed the ensemble. His name was Firion, "The Rebel Rose," the Gym Leader of the Grass-Gym in the small town of Fynn and holder of the Rosebud Badge. The third Gym Leader was a woman with brown hair tied into a braid, held together by a red ribbon. Her green eyes gave a look of calm serenity, never betraying for a moment that, in reality, she was rather uncomfortable being on the spot like this. She wore a long, pink dress that buttoned up under a red, short-sleeved, blazer with brown boots. Silver bracelets and a black neck ribbon completed her ensemble. Her name was Aerith Gainsborough, "The Voice of the Earth," the leader of the Ground-type gym in Midgar, which also housed the famous Shinra Company, and the holder of the Materia Badge. The fourth Gym Leader was, much to May and Dawn's surprise, Snow Villiers, "The Abominable Snow-Man," an Ice-type Gym Leader from the City of Bodhum and holder of the Crystal Tear Badge. The fifth Gym Leader was a young woman with bobbed, light-blond hair and fierce looking blue-eyes. She wore a low-cut white vest over a black tank top, short, detached white sleeves, black, fingerless gloves, a teal belt over a hot-pink skirt, long, black socks that came half-way up her thighs, long, pink and tan boots with blue cuffs. Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca, often just shortened to Ashe, "The Desert Jewel," the Fire-type Gym Leader from the small town of Dalmasca in the middle of the Ivalice Desert and holder of the Sunshine Badge. The sixth Gym Leader was a young woman with brown hair with a bobbed haircut, but a long, wrapped ponytail in the back and a beaded extension in the front. Her eyes were mismatched, one was green, the other blue. She wore a tan tank top with a pink hood, yellow arm bands, black shorts with a brown, leather belt, a blue sarong-like skirt covering one leg, black boots, and a black wrist-band. Yuna, "The Grand Summoner," specialized in the Dragon-type hailing from the gym in Zarnarkand and holder of the Moon Hibiscus Badge. The seventh Gym Leader and current de-facto head of the gym leaders since the eighth was MIA was a young man also with somewhat messy, sandy-blond hair and purple eyes. His outfit was rather simple, a short-sleeved, blue polo-shirt, black slacks, and white shoes. His name was Yoshiya Kiryu, but he preferred to be called "Joshua." He was known as "The Composer," and was skilled in the use of Psychic-types from the gym of Traverse Town and holder of the Cleft Badge.

The Shinjuku Elite Four was also short a member, and not just any member. Their leader, the Champion, was also missing, just as the eighth Gym Leader was missing. Of the members that were present, the first was a young man with silver-lavender hair with a feather in his hair. He wore a purple, puffy, long-sleeved bolero over a black muscle-shirt. His well-manicured hands barely peaked out from under the sleeves. He wore a cape belted over slim, black pants tucked into long, black boots. Kuja, "The Merciful Angel," was master of Poison-types. The next member was an older man with white hair, but not so old that his hair _turned_ that color. He wore a nice, black suit, tailor-made to fit his larger body. Theodore "Golbez" Harvey, "The Warlock of Shadows," was a master of the Ghost-type. The next member was the most out-of-place looking of the four. While the others were wearing nice suits or were generally well dressed, this guy just came in shirtless and shoeless, wearing only swim-trunks. His body was well-tanned but also heavily scarred due to his intense training regimen. Despite how buff Jecht looked, he was still somewhat dwarfed by the two people he was between. Jecht, "The Bronze God," was master of the Water-Type. Finally, the last large man also had white hair, but it was much longer than Golbez's, and part of it was tied in a small ponytail that dangled over his shoulder in the front. He wore a metal-gray suit, also tailor-made for his rather large frame. Garland, "The Ceaseless General," was master of the Fighting-type.

Each of their names, Badges, specialties, and gym they hailed from or rank within the Elite Four was broadcast over the loudspeakers. When their time came, each of the individual gym leaders and elite four (and substitutes) took a step out to let the spotlight shine on them. However, the absence of three participants did not go unnoticed by the President announcing everyone's names. After the role-call was completed, he quickly handed the microphone to Cynthia as the Champions (and Pyramid King Brandon) took center stage to make an act of good-will between the regions. However, with Kanto currently lacking a true Champion (though Ash was _supposed_ to fill this role due to his good standing with the other Champions), and Shinjuku's Champion missing (not to mention their head Gym Leader), Laguna needed to talk to the representatives.

"Okay, where are Siegfried, Bartz, and… Ash, was it?" Laguna asked them. "Not you, Ashe."

All of the Leaders and Elite Four members did the same thing, shrug their shoulders and shook their head. They, honestly, had no idea.

"I called Bartz," Joshua started, "But, it went right to his Voicemail."

"I figured Siegfried left to go find that goof-ball last month," Jecht pitched in. "Although, I haven't seen or heard from him since."

"I don't know why Ash isn't here," Gary added. "He was really excited to be here. There was no way he wouldn't be here if he could be." Gary shook his head remembering something. "The guy peddled a hot-air balloon to the Indigo Plateau to participate in a battle, for crying out loud!" The others that didn't know Ash looked at Gary like he was nuts. "… It's a long story," Gary admitted.

"Uh, should I let Air Patrol know we should let a hot air balloon in our airspace?" Laguna asked, completely serious.

Gary recoiled. "No! No, I was just saying the lengths Ash would go to for a good battle. This isn't like him."

"Yeah," Misty agreed. "You don't know Ash like I do."

Laguna sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Alright, I'll take your word for it." Laguna took out a walkie-talkie. "But, they better be here soon!" Laguna warned the Kanto and Shinjuku representatives. Laguna started barking orders into the walkie-talkie, apparently directing the various Officer Jenny around the stadium as the reps were sent back to their waiting rooms until they were called for their battles.

Back in the stands, the magenta-haired agent talked into her watch again. "The targets aren't here. Do we abandon the mission?"

"No," the voice answered back. "The Master has other plans. Proceed as scheduled."

A sly smile spread across her lips. "Rodger."

~(-)~

***hits save***

**Aaaand, that's it for the first chapter. Sorry about bombarding you with information there at the end, but it kinda had to be done. While this is officially a Pokémon/FF:Dissidia cross, like I was going to leave Kingdom Hearts, and by extension, TWEWY, out of the fun. Oh, just so you know, there are special new attacks the Pokémon of the Shinjuku region know, many based on Final Fantasy moves. When we get to them, I'll give the details of said moves in the Author's Note at the end of the Chapter (basically, the move's stats if it were in the Pokémon Game). However, there are no new Pokémon species. And, quick note about the Gym Badges of Shinjuku: They're all made of crystal, and I bet you can guess why outside of story context, but not why _inside_ story context. Bartz's Badge is the Mirror Badge, and he's a Normal-type specialist. Seigfried uses the Steel-type.**

**Chapter Two: The tournament begins! With Kanto down a rep and Shinjuku down two, how can they possibly hope for victory? And, what is this operation the magenta-haired woman keeps mentioning? How will it affect the tournament, and what is her master's real goal? Stay tuned!**


	3. Round 1 FIGHT!

**Oh, I fixed some things from last chapter. I decided to replace Iris with Dryden again and fixed the town Joshua represents (darn alliteration making me confuse Traverse Town with Twilight Town)**

**So, loyal readers, I bet you're wondering what the deal is with Memoirs from a Mirror, if you read that story. Weeeeell, I'm holding off on the story until KH3D comes out. I want to understand that story before I bring its canon into Memoirs, and I do plan on bringing part of its canon into Memoirs. **

**?: Aw, what am I supposed to do then?**

… **Bartz, what are you doing here… **_**again**_**?**

**Bartz: You forgot to fix the gaping hole in the fourth wall from before.**

… ***looks over shoulder, notices large hole in wall* … Huh, I thought I forgot to do something. … How'd you learn how to break it in the first place?**

**Bartz: … Deadpool.**

… **Darn your Mime powers. Just don't do it in the story.**

**Bartz: I can't make any promises.**

… **Don't you make me use my Author Powers on you!**

**Bartz: Oh yeah? What'chya gonna do?**

**You… Squall… Sexi tiems.**

**Bartz: … You wouldn't dare!**

**Try me.**

**Bartz: … I PROMISE I'LL BE GOOD!**

**Yeah, that's what I thought.**

**New guy: *crawls through hole* Okay, I'm here. What are your other two wishes?**

**Bartz: Oh, hey, Shin!**

**Shin: Hey, Bartz.**

**Bartz: How'd your talk with Herald go?**

**Shin: I don't want to talk about it.**

**Oh, Shin… *checks watch* You're early.**

**Shin: Early?**

**I don't need you quiiiiiiite yet.**

**Shin: -sigh- Great.**

**You can stick around if you want, though.**

**Shin: Fine, I guess.**

**Oh, for those of you who don't know, this is Shin. *motions to man who looks suspiciously a lot like Bartz* He's an OC of The Unknowing Herald that I'll be borrowing (with permission, for those of you who do) for my story.**

**Shin: Whoopie for me.**

**Hush, you.**

**Shin: So, you know what she wants with me?**

**Bartz: Nope, she doesn't tell me anything.**

**Liar.**

**Bartz: … Okay, she hasn't told me anything about **_**this**_** story.**

**Shin: Gee, I can't imagine why. So, **_**you**_** gonna tell me what you want with me.**

**Nope. You're just going to have to find out when we get there.**

**Shin: -sighs- Fine.**

**And now, let the gamming commence!**

**Shin: I still don't get why you decided to go the game route when you're clearly using the Anime. Ash sucks.**

**QUIET YOU, OR YOU SHALL KNOW THE WRATH OF MY AUTHOR POWERS!**

**Shin: … Shutting up.**

***boots up game***

***spams A to avoid intro***

**Bartz: Hey! I wanted to see that!**

**Too late.**

***hits Load Game***

~(-)~

After Laguna had his little talk with the regions that had the nerve to have absentees (his own region included), he once again emerged from the curtains. The Champions and Pyramid King Brandon had just finished wishing each other luck and shaking hands. Good sportsmanship was essential in a tournament like this. It taught young children who look up to these people as their heroes that, no matter how hard they fight, they were still friends.

Cynthia, the only female among the Champions, with long, blond hair and a long, black coat, handed the microphone back to Laguna.

"Thanks, Cynthia." Cynthia nodded in acknowledgement. "Alright, everyone! I'm sure you're all curious as to how this is gonna happen, so listen up!" He motioned to a large screen behind him. The screen lit up to show a large score card with the names of each region lined up along the top and bottom with a big strike running down the middle of it. "We've decided that we're going to do a round-robin tournament! The region that claims the most points is the winner!" To illustrate his point, soon, the card began filling up with different marks, an O, an X, and a Triangle. The Circle was a win and equaled two points, the triangle was a tie and equaled one, and an X was a loss, which didn't mean any points for that team. Before the score card could fill up, it vanished, revealing a new one with the region names listed as Kanto, Shinjuku, Hoenn, Johto, Sinnoh, and Unova.

"Next, the actual battles themselves will be a Multi-battle format," Laguna continued. "Each region will send out two representatives at a time: One Gym Leader and one Elite 4 member. Each member has specific rules. The Gym Leader is only allowed to use one Pokémon. If they're Pokémon is knocked out, they must switch out for the next Gym Leader. But, the Gym Leaders may take their turn in any order they want. Use this to your advantage, teams! Oh, and, to Hoenn's Tate and Liza, the two of you count as one Gym Leader to keep things even. When you're up, you're up together." The crowd chuckled at Laguna calling them out specifically. Now, for the Elite 4 members, they may each use two Pokémon, however, they _must_ go in their assigned order, first to last. If one side runs out of Gym Leaders or Elite 4, their partner must continue on in a one-on-two situation."

"One more thing: The Champion. If we included the Champion among the Elite 4, then the Gym Leaders would have eight Pokémon to the Elite 4's ten. That's not exactly fair. So, we decided to let the Champion be a sort of 'wild card,'" he explained. "You see, the Champion is special in that they are able to take the place of a recently defeated Gym Leader _or_ Elite 4, but, not only can they use only one Pokémon, the Pokémon they _can_ use is already pre-determined." Upon speaking those words, the screen that showed the scorecard shifted to a screen that showed pictures of the Champions in bubbles and, underneath them, the only Pokémon they are allowed to use: Ash and his Pikachu, Lance and his Dragonite, Wallace and his Milotic, Cynthia and her Garchomp, Alder and his Volcarona, and Seigfriend and his Lucario. "Teams, use your wild card wisely since your opponent knows what they've got!"

Back in the waiting room, Misty nearly flipped the lockers in a rage. "THAT ASH! IF HE MAKES US LOSE THIS, I SWEAR-" Gary had to restrain her at this point to prevent her from causing too much damage to herself, or worse, the room.

"Misty! Misty! Calm down!" Gary pleaded through gritted teeth trying to keep a wildly flailing Misty restrained.

Laguna scratched the back of his head. "Okay, we were going to start off with Kanto versus Shinjuku today, but seeing as they're missing people and everyone swears they'll be here… eventually, we're going to move onto the second match: Hoenn versus Johto!" (May and Max screamed, "Whoooo! Go Dad!")

(-)

There was a collective sigh of relief in the Kanto waiting room when they heard they were having a reprieve to give Ash time to appear… That, and Misty calmed down enough to let Gary release her.

"See?" Gary started. "The President wants this to work just as much as we do."

"Yeah… well…" Misty started, still clearly angry. "When Ash shows up, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind!"

Gary shuddered. _"Maybe you shouldn't show up after all, Ash…"_

(-)

Back at the Pokémon Center, Zidane finally walked in after pushing his way through the crowd that gathered outside of the stadium to watch the match on the large screen mounted on its outside. Inside the Pokémon Center, however, wasn't much better as people crowded around that television as well.

"Yeash, Ruby," Zidane started. "I don't think we'll be watching it here, either." Ruby ooked in agreement.

"My goodness! That Aipom certainly has an interesting flavor!" Zidane heard someone say behind him. Judging from the voice, it was a male.

"Whoa! A pink Aipom!" a new voice said. This one was female. "I've never seen one of those before!"

Zidane spun on his heels, and quickly dipped into a bow. "My Ruby's one of a kind, Miss…?" He looked up to see that… he bowed in front of the male. Zidane's face turned beet-red in embarrassment. Upon closer inspection of the male, he was dressed rather well for a trainer: a black vest over a white dress shirt, black slacks, and a green bowtie that matched the green of his hair and eyes.

"Oh, I'm Cilin, Pokémon Connoisseur," the green-haired boy said, tightening his bowtie. He returned Zidane's bow. "It's a pleasure to meet you and your Aipom."

"Uh… thanks…" Zidane stammered. Ruby started chuckling at Zidane's embarrassment. Zidane shot a quick, angry glare at her and came out of his bow.

The young man then motioned to his female companion. She had large, purple hair, parts of it tied into pigtails while the rest was tied into one large ponytail in the back. Her skin was fairly dark, and she wore a simple light-tan, long-sleeved shirt and a pink wrap for a skirt. Long, white socks and pink shoes completed her ensemble. "And, this is my friend, Iris…" and, out of her hair, popped a Pokémon, a little Axew, a Dragon-type Pokémon with large fangs.

"And, my partner, Axew!" she finished. Axew added an "Ax-Axew!" which was probably Pokémon speak for hello.

"Uh, hi, there. I'm Zidane, and this is Ruby, my pink Aipom," Zidane introduced, motioning to his partner. _"Eh, she's cute, but not really my type,"_ Zidane quickly summarized about Iris. No Double Hits from Ruby today.

"Ooooh! She's so cute!" Iris squealed. "Can I hold her?" she asked with her arms outstretched, waiting to catch Ruby.

"Sure, you mind, Ruby?" Ruby shook her head and jumped into Iris's waiting arms.

Iris was soon snuggling, cuddling, and doing other girly-things with her. "Oooh, soooo soooft…"

"… _Some guys get all the luck…"_ Zidane sighed in his thoughts.

Cilin chuckled. "The bond you have with your Aipom is quite strong. I would be quite interested in battling with you."

"Yeah, sure!-" the crowd around them cheered. Everyone spun around to look back at the television. Apparently the first match ended in Johto's victory, with Bugsy and his Scyther managing to barely eke out a win over Norman and his Slaking. (May and Max booed Bugsy for beating their father.)

"Oh man! Did you see it when Lance's Dragonite and Wallace's Milotic were duking it out?" a random person in the crowd asked.

"I couldn't believe it! A double-knockout!" someone answered. "A Champion's strength is really something else, isn't it?"

"I'm surprised Johto took it, especially after the thrashing Glacia from Hoenn was giving them!" said another.

"Karen and Umbreon really came through in a pinch!" chimed in someone else.

"Ah, man! I can't believe I missed it!" Zidane hung his head in defeat.

Iris giggled. "Such a kid…" Iris perked up when she said that. "Speaking of kid, I wonder where Ash is…"

"Yes, it's not like him to be absent," Cilin mused. "Late, maybe, but not _absent_…"

Zidane cocked his head. "Wait, Ash? You mean the Kanto 'Champion'?"

"Yes, you know him?" Cilin asked.

Zidane shook his head. "No, I don't know him, but I did meet a bunch of people who do." He pointed at the stadium. "They're all in there."

Iris pouted. "Lucky them managing to get tickets…" she muttered.

Cilin waved his arms downward to try and keep Iris calm. "Now, now…"

Ruby decided she wanted to be with her trainer again and leapt from Iris's arms to the top of Zidane's head. Zidane just shrugged and sighed. "So, you guys here just to see the matches?"

"Ah, well, yes," Cilin started, "and to cheer on our friends and family."

"Me too!" Iris agreed.

Zidane thought for a moment, "So, besides Ash, who else are you guys here for?"

"My brother, Cress, is representing my home town of Straition City," Cilin explained. Zidane tensed up at the mention of the word "brother."

"And, I'm here to root on Dryden! Not like he really needs it though…" Iris added.

"Do you have family here, Zidane?" Cilin asked.

Zidane spat in response. "No! And, even if I did have a pompous, glimmering _fop_ brother, like I would be here for him."

Cilin stared at him, obviously catching that Zidane _did_ have family here and wasn't exactly happy about it. Cilin just shrugged instead and dropped the matter. "So, is there another reason as to why you're here other than to watch?"

Zidane pouted, remembering his failed plan. "Yeah, I came hoping to find that flaky 8th gym leader, Bartz, I think his name is."

"You're taking the gym challenge?" Iris asked. "And, you've already got seven badges?"

Zidane rubbed his nose in a cocky manner. "You say that like you don't believe it!" Zidane pulled out his badge case, popping it open to reveal the other seven badges he earned, the first badge was a long, thin crystal, separated into three color blocks, the top portion being white, the bottom portion being black, and the middle portion being a gradient hue of oranges, yellows, and pinks, looking like a sunrise. The second badge was a small, red, crystal rosebud, wrapped in vines, waiting for its chance to bloom. The third badge was a simple, green, crystal sphere. The fourth badge was also fairly simple in shape, it looked just as its name implied, a blue, crystal tear drop. The fifth badge was a small, amber crystal that caught the light spectacularly well and seemed to almost glow. The sixth badge was another crystal flower, this time a dark, purple hibiscus seen from a profile shot, the flower itself angled upwards. The final badge in the case, the seventh, was, again, just as its name implied: a black cleft, but, like the others, it was also made of crystal. Cilin noticed the oddity right away.

"Why are all of the badges crystal?" he asked. "Normally, they're metal."

"Maybe where _you're_ from," Zidane clarified. "Personally, I think it's odd that _yours_ are made of metal."

Cilin gave a half-nod, noting his point. "True, but that doesn't exactly answer my question."

Zidane nervously chuckled. "Right, anyway, the reason they're all crystal is because, according to a legend passed down in Shinjuku, 'the crystal lights the way to what you seek.' Since most trainers take the gym challenge to compete in the Shinjuku Games, it only seemed natural for our badges to be made of crystal."

Cilin nodded in understanding. "I see."

"It's so cool to see how deep legends run in some regions!" Iris agreed.

"Isn't it?" Cilin agreed.

"I can tell you more about 'em, if you want," Zidane offered.

"Oh?"

Zidane nodded. "Sure!" But, before he could start, the crowd started getting rowdy and pushy, bumping Zidane, Iris, and Cilin together, forming a very uncomfortable sandwich.

"Um… maybe outside is a better idea…" Cilin offered.

"Yeah…" Iris and Zidane agreed.

(-)

Having found a nice picnic area that wasn't so overcrowded with people nearby, Cilin started preparing a little snack for everyone, just some finger sandwiches filled with peanut butter and Pecha Berry jelly for the humans and Pokémon food in white bowls for the Pokémon. They could still see the giant plasma screen showing the battle between Sinnoh and Unova going strong from where they were. Cilin shot occasional glances to see if Cress was up to battle.

After everyone sat down and began munching their sandwiches, between bites, Zidane began telling the tale. "Okay, so, I'm sure you've heard about various legends telling you how the different regions were created, like Groudon and Kyogre raised the land and Kyogre expanded the sea, or how Arceus created the Pokémon that created time, space, and the spirit." Iris and Cilin nodded. "Yeah, we don't really have anything like that." Iris nearly choked on her sandwich in shock.

After a quick gulp of water to clear her airway, she blurted out, "WHAT?"

"Whoa, hang on!" Zidane stammered defensively. "Let me try to explain." He shifted his position a bit. "You see, according to _our_ legend, our region wasn't made by a Pokémon. It was made by a Pokémon _trainer_."

"WHAT?" Cilin blurted out this time. "But, that's impossible! No human **has** that kind of power!"

"Hey, according to our legend, he did," Zidane answered matter-of-factly. "Also according to our legend, he was said to be the first Pokémon trainer _ever_."

"WHOA!" Iris shouted in shock. "_The_ first? EVER?"

"What kind of Pokémon trainer was he?" Cilin was now so completely enthralled, he missed the fact that Cilin and his Panpour was currently battling for Unova against a rather-menacing-looking Bastiodon from Byron and Hippowdon from Bertha, complete with a sandstorm.

"According to our legend, a very benevolent one because there was no other way he was going to form a pact with _Arceus_, of all Pokémon."

"ARCEUS?" they blurted out together.

"Well, yeah. You gotta remember this _is_ before the time Poke-balls were invented," Zidane reasoned. "Because he was able to touch Arceus's heart, Arceus was said to have given him a gift."

"What sort of gift?" Cilin asked.

"The ability to 'see the true world of Pokémon,' whatever that means," Zidane answered with a shrug. "The legend doesn't really say."

"And, then what? And, then what?" Iris asked excitedly.

Zidane thought for a moment. "Uuuuuuuh… Oh! It's said that the place where the pact was first made exists in Shinjuku, somewhere in the Forest of Mist."

"Has anyone ever found it?" Cilin asked.

Zidane shook his head. "Not from what I know, although there are rumors that our Champion has, and that's why he's so strong."

"How so?"

"Well, according to our legend, the Sanctuary, as we called it, is a special place that seems to exist outside of time. You could train for months, maybe even years there, and almost no time will pass in the outside world. And, on the plus side, you don't age a day."

"WHOAAAAA!" Iris was now total sold. "I'M GOING TO FIND THIS PLACE RIGHT NOW!"

"_Whooooooa_, little missy," Zidane interrupted. "Remember how I said no one knows if anyone ever found the place?"

"Yeah?" she answered. "But, you said your Champion did."

"No, I said that it was a _rumor_ that he did," Zidane corrected. "Besides, anyone who enters the forest is never heard from again. No one in their right mind heads into the forest anymore."

"But, there's gotta be a way!" Iris whined. "I'm gonna find it!"

"Hey, I thought the same thing, once," Zidane said, shaking his head. "When I got near the forest, though, Ruby began freaking out."

An image of a trembling Ruby flashed in Zidane's head. _"Come on, Ruby! We won't know if we don't try!"_ Ruby just screeched in protest and hit Zidane twice in the stomach with her hand-tail, knocking him out cold. When Zidane came to, he was being tended to by his younger sister who looked much like Zidane, only had pink ribbons in her hair and wore a generally pink ensemble.

"Trust me, it's not a good idea."

Iris slumped over, defeated. "And, just when I thought I found the perfect way to power up Axew…" Axew patted her head twice to comfort her.

"So," Cilin began while taking a sip of his tea. "Anything else?"

"Oh, yeah!" Zidane said with a snap of his fingers. "One other legend says, 'When the world faces its Darkest hour, the Light will choose special youths to inherent the gift.'"

"And, by gift, I assume you mean-"

"Yeah, the gift the first Pokémon trainer received," Zidane confirmed. "The gift to see the true world of Pokémon."

Cilin took another sip of his tea, obviously deep in thought. "If it's true that this trainer created the region of Shinjuku, then this gift must be powerful."

Zidane shrugged. "I'd assume so if it's from Arceus."

Suddenly, a dull sound screaming, hooting, and clapping could be heard in the distance. The three turn to see the big screen. The word DRAW is plastered clearly on the screen, showing a double-knock out between Gardina's Roserade and Roxie's Garbodor.

"Whoa, wasn't expecting that," Cilin stated matter-of-factly.

"Well, at least we didn't lose!" Iris stated happily.

"Yeah, but you didn't win, either," Zidane pointed out.

"Yeah, but we didn't lose!" Iris countered.

"You still didn't win!" Zidane interjected.

"But, we didn't lose!"

"You didn't win, either!"

"We didn't lose!"

"You didn't win!"

The exchange went on for quite some time. Cilin shrugged and tuned them out as he continued to sip his tea.

(-)

White the field was being cleaned up for the final matchup of the day, Kanto versus Shinjuku, President Laguna made one final trip backstage to the Kanto and Shinjuku waiting rooms. Both times, he asked them if they've seen or heard from their missing participants, and, both times, they answered no, concern showing blankly on their faces. Laguna ran his hand through his hair and sighed.

"Great," he whined out-loud to himself. "Juuuuust great. Where in what world _are_ you guys?"

(-)

"… Don't you think we should be there, Ziggy?" asked a brown-haired, brown eyed young man to his silver-haired, silver-eyed friend, looking up from a globe of water that depicted the inside of the stadium where the battles were taking place. "We kinda have an obligation, ya'know."

"You know full well why we **cannot** be there, Bartz," the silver-haired young man answered. "We have already discussed this."

"Yeah, I _know_ that, but, still-" "Ziggy," as he was affectionately called by Bartz, walked away, indicating that this conversation was over. "Oh, come on, Siegfried! Do you always have to be like that?" he asked irritated, throwing his hands up in defeat. Bartz rolled his eyes and sighed.

The two were in a white wasteland of sorts, dotted with various white, ruined structures. The ground had a shallow stream of water running over the top of it, some of it forming the aforementioned globe. The sky was overcast from the mist filling its skies and blocking out the sun. Also in this white wasteland were three others, another brown-haired youth, though his hair spiked out in every-which-way, a silver-haired youth with his hair pulled back into a short pony-tail, and a black-haired youth wearing a baseball cap with a Pikachu on his shoulder.

"AAAAH, MAN, THIS IS KILLING ME!" screamed the baseball-cap-wearing young man. "All of these great battles…" He wanted to cry he was so disappointed.

"Yeah, Ziggy's such a stick-in-the-mud," Bartz agreed. He sighed and continued, "The guy's a got a point, though, Ash."

Ash, the boy with the Pikachu, kicked up a bit of water in annoyance. "Yeah… I wish he didn't though."

"Yeah, but, this whole thing being a _trap_?" asked the spiky, brown-haired youth. "Is he sure?"

Bartz nodded, though it looked like he didn't want to. "As much as I don't want to admit it, he's more-than-likely right, Sora."

The silver-haired boy chimed in this time. "Can you think of any other reason to invite all of the Gym Leaders and Elite 4 here out-of-the-blue like this?"

"I dunno, Luneth," Sora mused. "What if it _isn't_ a trap, and it really _is_ just a way to get us all together for a good time?"

"If it is, or if it isn't, can we really take the chance?" Bartz summarized. "I hate to say it, but when Ziggy's right, Ziggy's right."

"Well, if we know it's a trap, shouldn't we be there to _do_ something about it?" Ash asked, now more agitated.

Bartz sighed. "Trust me, we thought about that, too." Bartz shook his head. "They would only need to capture _one_ of us in order to learn what the 'gift' is." Ash spat in disgust.

"Aren't we supposed to be _protecting_ Pokémon _and_ humans?" Ash countered. "Hiding isn't protecting them!"

Bartz shook his head. "With us _not_ there, they might not set off the trap."

"Well, what if you're wrong? What if they do?"

"Then, we can still save them! _We_ weren't captured along with them!"

Ash had enough. He grabbed Bartz by the shirt (which was a rather impressive feat, considering Bartz had at least a head's height over Ash) and pulled him down to his eye level. "These. People. NEED. Us! I'M NOT GOING TO HIDE LIKE SOME COWARD!" Ash began to storm off, when he was suddenly zapped by his Pikachu. He commedically jolted and fidgeted as thousands of volts coursed through his body.

"PIKA-CHU, PIKA?" he asked. "Pika Pika-chu Pika-Pika-chu, Pika-Pi."

Ash bowed his head and sighed, knowing he was defeated. "Then, tell me!," he called out to Bartz. "Why'd she pick me?"

"Because we're the only ones who can save this world from the returning Darkness…"

(-)

Laguna returned to the stage, trying his best to hide his annoyance over the no-shows. He sighed, then began to speak into the microphone. "Weren't those some great battles, everyone?" The crowd roared its approval. "Yeah, I thought you'd like 'em!" he agreed with a chuckle. "Last, but not least, the final battle for the day: Kanto versus Shinjuku!"

The teams emerged onto the stage, proud as a Piplup, and ready for battle.

"Teams, to your benches!" Laguna ordered, and the teams ran for their respective sides. "First Gym Leaders and Elite 4 members, to the Battlefield!"

Coming from Kanto's side was a young, short, blue-haired woman wearing a pink tank top, white pants, and a black belt with large, glowing bracelets on each wrist, and a purple-haired woman wearing a black vest over a purple skirt and black pumps. They were announced as Sabrina, the Saffron Gym Leader, and Prima, of the Elite 4. Coming from Shinjuku's side was Joshua and Kuja.

"You better not slow me down, _Joshua_," hissed Kuja. "I **don't** need your help."

"Oh, now, now, Kuja," Joshua called back in a much calmer tone. "This is a _team_ match, remember? You've got it whether you want it or not."

Laguna had one final announcement to make before he left the stage. "Alright, since it seems like both of your champions are missing, no trump cards for you," he said to the two teams in general. "And, for you, Shinjuku, since you're short one Gym Leader, your final Gym Leader will be allowed to use two Pokémon to make up for it." The Shinjuku representatives went into a huddle to determine how this would affect them and their gameplan. "Alright!" Laguna handed the microphone off to the referee and hopped off the stage, making his way toward the backstage.

The referee, wearing standard referee wear, announced, "Trainers! Release your first Pokémon!"

"GO!" both sides called out, throwing out their Poke-balls. For Kanto, Sabrina released her Alakazam (which was the Kadabra that Ash faced in his gym battle), and Prima released Dewgong. Joshua released his Slowking, and Kuja his Skuntank.

Joshua flicked his bangs, a little cocky for predicting their play correctly. "I figured you would use your Psychic Gym Leader first."

Sabrina's face didn't betray a glimmer of emotion. "Just because you predicted our play, does not mean you can defeat it! Alakazam, Focus Blast!" The Psi Pokémon gathered a sphere of blue energy in his spoons and shot it at Skuntank. The battle was now officially underway.

Back in the bleachers, the magenta-haired woman's watch beeped. She pressed the winder and spoke. "Jesse."

"Jesse," a voice responded on the other end. "After the match concludes, begin the operation."

She smirked. "Rodger." She ran up the steps and exited the stadium to return to the halls, meeting up with her cohorts, the blue-haired man and the poorly-disguised Meowth.

"We've received the signal. After the battle, we begin," she spoke into her watch again.

"Great…" a new voice answered this time. "It's been a while since I've had such a hunt!"

~(-)~

***hits save***

**Sorry the chapters are still a bit slow, but we gotta set up the plot, no? And, yeah, sorry about not really showing you the battles between the regions because that would be a BUTT-TON of action that would stretch the story pointlessly. I'll see about posting the results of the first matchups after the next chapter, so that way you can see how I came to the conclusion of the matchups.**

**Bartz: Can you believe that Sinnoh managed to Draw like that after being at a 1vs2 disadvantage, Shin?**

**Shin: Gotta admit, that was pretty cool. Skyla and Grimsley wisely teamed up to take down Cynthia's Garchomp.**

**Bartz: Oooh, yeah, he could have been a problem if left alone. I still can't believe that double-ko with Lance's Dragonite and Wallace's Milotic, though.**

**Shin: I honestly thought Norman's Slaking would have clinched it for Hoenn. Guess he didn't count on Scyther's Swords Dance defense deflecting Slaking's Hyper Beam.**

**Bartz: SWORDS DANCE + FURY CUTTER FOR THE WIN!**

**Shin: Well, I'd better be going back to my own Fanfiction now.**

**Bye, Shin. Tell Herald thanks again for me.**

**Bartz: Dude, you, me, Marvel later.**

**Shin: Bring it on!**

**Come on, guys. At least play a game **_**I**_** know how to play…**

**Next time: Kanto vs Shinjuku! It's an all-out Brawl! But, what does the trio of baddies have planned after the Smash? And, why **_**are**_** Ash, Bartz, and Siegfried reluctant to step into the arena, trap or no? What is this "gift" everyone keeps mentioning? Am I going to tell you?**

**The answer to these questions… might or might not be in the next chapter. You're just going to have to wait and find out!**

**Bartz: VILE, LOGGING OUT.**

**BARTZ! THAT'S NOT EVEN-! Ugh, come on! *chucks corn husk at* Stick to a fanfiction I'm **_**allowed**_** to use stuff from!**

**Bartz: GAH! Okay, okay! Sheesh.**


End file.
